For more than a decade the ACLU has been leading efforts to combat racial profiling. Our report “Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on Our Nation’s Highways” helped popularize a phrase that is now part of popular culture, but since 9/11, “flying while Muslim,” and in many parts of the country, “doing anything while Latino,” have put new faces on racial profiling.
From historic racism in policing, to post 9-11 intelligence gathering and airport searches, to upheaval in state and federal immigration enforcement, the unconstitutional practice of racial profiling continues. While Americans tend to think about racial profiling in these isolated circumstances, context isn't the issue; discrimination is.
On October 27, 2011, the ACLU held a policy discussion broadening the conversation on racial profiling and the growth of this unconstitutional and ineffective practice in advance of a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for November 4, 2011.